DAVE(Darkcabbie)

I noticed that you can book a package that gives you a tour of the bridge , galley and engine room plus you get two specialty restaurants included which sounds cool but the price is $170.00 per person.

 

Considering that Chops & Giovanni's is $50.00 for the pair I am wondering if the the tour of the ship is worth the extra 120 bucks or is it well overpriced at $170.00 for the package.

 

Has anyone done this package and if so was it worth the money ? .

Just please get a passport. It is an official document that everyone should really have.

 

Tyler80 is spot on. Passports are useful for so many things for example when you go ashore you may wish to hire a scooter or a car to do your own thing and they may need it as additional ID but never let them keep it.

Anyone know any good Tapas bars in Vigo or La Coruna as we would like to try the real thing while we are ashore  :D

There's still smoking in land casinos so I'm not surprised smoking isn't banned onboard Royal Caribbean's casinos

 

I hope they do ban it in the on board casinos , the UK banned smoking in land casinos and pubs about 2 years ago, since then the 2 casinos near where i live have seen a significant drop in customers through the door because they cant smoke inside and our local pubs are having the same problem.

 

This is why i think RC will be slow to ban it from their casinos because gambling and drinking go hand in hand with smoking so if they have looked into stats they are probably concerned they may loose revenue as has happened in the UK. 

After what seems like forever it's now next month.

 

To quote a well known song. I'm so excited I just can't hide it I'm about to loose control and I think I like it . :) :) :) .

 

Anyone who tells me who sung that can have an extra Tiramisu on their next cruise as a prize.

Wow , looks like you had agreat time in Alaska.

 

Alaska is on my list of must do cruises so I enjoyed reading your review. The excursions you did sound awesome especially the snorkeling and the Helicopter ride. Shame the cruise director wasn't doing his job properly , sounds like he needs a change of career.

If you have just been on a cruise welcome back.

 

How about giving us a brief view of the ship you were on and where you visited.

 

Don't forget to leave a full review in Matts cruise reviews tab at the top of the page.

Awesome podcast Matt. Great detail on the various specialty restaurants.

I subscribed sraight away and I am looking forward to listening to all your future podcasts.

Another great podcast Matt. Hammocks were mentioned and they sound very inviting , are they on all Freedom Class Ships and are the hot tubs that hang over the side open 24hr.

How about a revolving crows nest. Many tall buildings have revolving restaurants so why not on a ship. It would be pretty cool to sit and have a cold one and watch the scenery come full circle especially in somewhere like Alaska or the Fjords.

It's just a shame it's not effective till January which means I could still get peoples cigarette butts and ash coming on to my balcony while im relaxing on the ship next month but at least they are banning it so I shouldn't moan.

 

Isn't it funny though how RC have have not banned it from the casino where they probably make the most revenue.

Oh right and we're supposed to belive that :) and the poor waiter gets the blame. I bet behind the camera you've got two also. He he he

Thanks Matt , great reviews. Glad im going in the gym every day otherwise I may get harpooned as I leave the ship :) .

My cruise (Eastern Caribbean, 7 days) will visit the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maartin on November 2. Never been to either and have not ever been on a cruise before. Oasis of the Seas is the ship.

You have picked a great first cruise , I love all three of those places. The sail out of St Thomas in the evening is fab. Just as the sun is setting and the town lights up its gorgeous.

 

I guarantee this won't be your last cruise once you've done one you'll be hooked :)

 

My wife and I are going on the independence round the Canaries in October and this will be our first Royal Caribbean Cruise and thanks to all the info from the great bunch of people on this blog I think that RC will be our cruise line for quite some time.

We booked for the Indy back in March and will probably book next years ahead too so that we get the room we want but there is also another one we have our eye on and that will probably be last minute to get the best deal available. These will all be with RC.

Independence will be your first Royal Caribbean cruise? Have you been on any other cruise line? I think you're in for a treat! Enjoy!

Yes we started cruising in 2001 and have sailed with Carnival & P&O (never again with P&O they were terrible) mainly around the Caribbean. So now we are trying and really looking forward to RC and infact we are already considering 2 more with RC that we have our eye on from Southampton.

 

Trust me if they bring a dish full of tiramisu near us its ours, my wife has a black belt in FOODJITSU and her Jedi mind tricks are better than Obi Wan Kenobi . :)

Thanks Matt.

 

Do you know if I was right and Portofino has been replaced by Giovanni's on the Indy since her refurb. Their website has conflicting pages as to whether it's there or not.

One of our first cruises was in the hurricane season and although we did encounter one it was not really a problem. The Captain just altered course to try to avoid it but we did catch the tail end so it got a little rough but with the stabilisation it was like being gently rocked to sleep. We didn't miss any islands on the itinerary and had a great cruise.

 

Just keep in mind that mother nature does what she wants when she wants the Bay of Biscay is a prime example of that any time of year. Weather can change at any time so my advice is don't worry about it just pick the cruise & the time of year you fancy AND HAVE A GREAT TIME :)

I Haven't tried either yet as the Independence will be our first RC cruise. We was looking forward to trying Portofino but after her refurb it looks like it's been replaced by Giovanni's. Have we now missed out on a good restaurant or is Giovanni's just as nice.

Thanks for the info :)

Does anyone know if you can get take out from JRs to take back to the room.

We nearly always opt for late seating mainly because we try to stay ashore as long as possible and we like to go up top for the sail off as it's normally great fun and then we can get ready for dinner. If we want to catch a show then we would hit the buffet or maybe room service.

Forgot about the Cheesecake Factory that would be cool.

 

I do agree with both of you that the ships should stay unique and although I can't wait to try Johnny Rockets it would probably be better if RC had their own fast food chain maybe called Caribs Burger Shacks specializing in home made burgers and ribs.

Thanks Matt & Tyler80 for your info , I will make sure we order early so that we are on the dinner schedule.

 

Don't want to be eating dinner for breakfast if you know what I mean :) .